What It Takes To Get Hired At 'The Best Places To Work In America'

Madeline BuxtonFeb 26, 2018 12:00 PM

Getting a job at a top tech company isn't all about having the best technical skills. In fact, there are many qualities assessed during the often lengthy interview processes, and demonstrating these qualities can go a lot further in helping potential candidates stand out from the crowd.

Tomorrow, Glassdoor will host its one-day Best Places to Work Tour in San Francisco. There, hiring managers at top rated companies will offer insights on the secret sauce that plays into their job decisions — from something as simple as having enough white space on your resume to demonstrating your problem-solving capabilities.

Ahead of the event, Refinery29 spoke with recruiting leads from three highly-ranked tech companies who will take the stage. Click through to see what they look for on a resume, the common mistakes they see during interviews, and the best ways candidates follow up. And, should you crave more insights, tune in here to watch a livestream of tomorrow's Best Places to Work Tour.

The recruiter: Liz Wamai, Director of Recruiting for Global Business Functions

Resume rules: "[Mistakes] can be something as simple as typos. If you really want to be the candidate who moves on to a phone screen, having a very clear, well written out, bulleted resume with enough white space so it's easy for the recruiter to be able to scan [is important]."

Question time: "As much as possible, have specific examples and details. We'll ask a question about 'give me an example of when you've done X.' The candidates that stand out are the candidates who are very succinct, very direct, and have very good examples that they can talk through that give context on how they've worked on a product or built a team."

Interview musts: "How well have you researched the role, department, the people you're going to be interviewing with? The candidates that stand out are those who have done their due diligence. They know we're a mission driven company and what our values are."

Ask the good questions: "Everybody always has a culture question. I always like it when a candidate has been listening to understand — as they're interviewing they're picking up on cues, or words, about that particular interviewer, product, or department, so they ask questions that build on the conversation as opposed to very generic questions."

Most important factor throughout the process: "Understand what differentiates Facebook from any other company you might be applying for — the mission, the values, what we stand for.

"People who are creative and curious about solving some of the problems and challenges that Facebook has really stand out."

The follow-up: "I think an email goes well. I can't remember the last time I got a handwritten letter from a candidate. Emails generally are just easier to process — and respond to — given how much traffic recruiters and interviewers get.

Resume rules: "Grammar is huge — we do a lot of things on chat, so you need to have a strong sense of how to convey a message simply and without error. Our talent team looks for someone who has strong objectives and clarity about what they've done. I've looked at resumes that are too busy and if I can't see what they've done quickly, I'm not going to spend too much time on it."

Question time: "One of the things that's important for our culture is caring for each other, so I'll ask candidates, 'Tell me about a time you cared for someone else and what were the dynamics, what was the outcome?' That's not something people generally ask in an interview."

Interview faux pas: "The majority of all of our hiring is done through video conferencing. I've had it happen where people show up inappropriately dressed. Candidates need to understand that it's still like being in person — you need to have a strong, and good, presence.

"I had an incident recently when I went to one of our Zoom rooms and the camera was not situated so they could see me close-up. I started to fix the camera and the person got a little pertinent with me and was trying to direct me. It was a really awkward experience."

Most important factor throughout the process: "Consistency. You need to stay on point with your story and own your game."

The follow-up: "Candidates that follow up with an email shortly after their interview drives value to their candidacy. Also, drawing attention to standout qualities they bring to the role is a nice touch."

Key traits: "Our new CEO joined last January and he talks about what he calls his magical equation — intelligence times work ethic, divided by ego. We are looking for people who are smart and curious and like to look for new ways to do things and take a different perspective. They need to be very open minded because that's important for the creative process and is essential to innovation."

Interview faux pas: "We're looking for people who would rather be here because of the organization than at a Facebook or a Google. We want to make sure people are committed to the organization [and that] they’re not just going through the interview process to go through the interview process — they really want to be here. It's easy to sense a general feeling of enthusiasm and excitement from candidates."

Most important factor throughout the process: "Clarity. If I feel like someone is kind of ambivalent or just testing waters, those are not people who I think would be successful here."

The follow-up: "Be able to connect some dots of things that were discussed during the interview and provide more thought. Say, 'I've been thinking even more about the conversation we had about XYZ problem and here are some more things I think could be done.'"